Transit (2008) Reviews

• It's the proverbial "so bad, it's good" flick

  Siamois2010-02-12

  Transit is a rare attempt in French Canadian film-making at doing a crime thriller. The rather convoluted plot follows Santiago, a car thief and supposed electronic genius who works undercover for the police and is attempting to shut down an auto theft ring. Various crime organizations are involved, each plotting against each others. To complicate matters, several law enforcement branches are also competing against each others. The film seems like a one-man vehicle for Christian de la Cortina, who writes, directs and stars is this low budget movie that attempts to cram as many Hollywood tropes as possible. The screenplay employs every trick in the book , without much attempt at finesse. There's the obsessed detective, who's angry because federal agencies are now short-circuiting his case. There's the undercover's handler, a hot babe who seems to be developing feelings for her asset, there's the crime boss, who insists that "it's just business". The direction obviously suffers from lack of experience but also what looks like a minuscule budget. But there's still a lack of resourcefulness that is very obvious here. The dialog is of the worst sort and the delivery by almost all actors involved (with the exception of Hugo St- Cyr, who regrettably has a small role) ranges from bad to awful. Because the thriller relies more on grit than Hollywood stunts, you would expect a little more care as far as respecting police procedures and the like but it is not the case here. The movie has all the realism of Lethal Weapon, without any of the fun. If there's a positive here, it's that there's no attempt to make you feel good. All the characters are unlikable in their own way, corruption, lies and selfishness reign supreme and nobody lives happily ever after. I wish de la Cortina had refined the script, paid more attention to the direction and found a suitable lead instead of going on an ego trip here. As it is, this movie is only of interest for French Canadian locals but doesn't hold a candle to most b-movie thrillers from the USA

• A rare french-Canadian thriller

  pavillon102014-08-09

  I just saw Transit on DVD and what a surprise. The director Christian de la Cortina makes is film debut with a bang. He also plays in it and co-wrote the script. Naturelly this is not a big Hollywood budget film, but the cinematography, the story and the music are first rate. I did not know Luc Morissette before this film, I think he gives a great performance. Christian de la Cortina and Julie Du Page are also top actor. The film had not a large distribution and it's a pity. It never came in a cinema near my region. Thanks to the DVD I was able to see this very good thriller. I hope that mister De la Cortina has a chance to do more films in the future because he has the talent as a director and an interesting look on screen as an actor.

• Great indy thriller

  mcaceres-926752017-10-09

  I enjoyed this french cop movie from first time director/actor Christian de la Cortina. I read that this film was shot on a ridiculous budget of 50K. Amazing work. The double plot feels like Infernal Affairs, Asian film who later became a remake as The Departed. De la Cortina is talented as director and actor as well. A lot of amazing luxury cars included in this car theft film. Still don't understand how the filmmaker was able to shoot this film with only 50K. Good work.